Qatar overhauled its entire defence system in six hours during Iran war, intelligence chief says

Qatar's head of the Intelligence and Security Authority, Brigadier General Khalid Mohammed Al-Nuaimi, disclosed Tuesday that Qatar redeployed its entire defensive systems within six hours to counter Iran's war threats — a move he called "unprecedented and successful."

Speaking at the Global Security Forum in Doha, Al-Nuaimi said the overhaul was grounded in eight months of adapting Qatar's forces, defence capabilities and military doctrine, which had been built for a "totally different threat landscape." The six-hour redeployment involved fast-moving changes both at concept level and in the allocation of defence assets. "We adapted, we redeployed and we did it within six hours," he said, adding that "we were caught off guard, yet we adapted rapidly, out of sheer necessity."

When asked specifically about countering drones during the war, Al-Nuaimi pointed to those same rapid changes as the basis for Qatar's response.

Also at the forum, Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr Majed al-Ansari said the Qatar-mediated US-Iran negotiations "are ongoing" with engagement from both parties. Al-Ansari said that the fact negotiations are not being publicly disclosed is a sign the mediation is functioning properly, amid rising tensions and concerns that the Iran war may restart.

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Presidential Envoy for Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack told the forum that "America wants a peace deal" centred on a "ceasefire in the straits" and easing pressure on the Iranian people. "Prosperity is the only answer," Barrack said, adding that "we don't need a reboot" of the previous US-Iran peace memorandum.

He identified the core obstacle as a mutual trust deficit. Barrack said that from the beginning of these discussions and negotiations, there has been "a lack of trust," noting that the IRGC does not trust the US and the US does not trust IRGC.

Barrack said he did not know if the Iran war was a mistake but acknowledged it had "unintended consequences" and described President Donald Trump as a "no forever wars president." He insisted the US would not leave the Middle East even as regional partners recalibrate expectations. "The bargain is not to control, but to not leave. We are not leaving," he said.

Barrack said that "America is the guarantor to the world" for the last 80 years and is no longer fulfilling that role, characterising the shift as "not an abandonment" but "a message for realignment."

Barrack also appeared to distance the administration from one of its declared war aims. Speaking of 23 regime change attempts across the Middle East, he said that each intervention to change a person or regime has "seemed to have been a mistake." Instead, he described the US goal as bringing parties together through "patience, presence, dialogue" — putting "guns and daggers on the table" to "figure something else out."